If Curtis Aikens Sr. had graduated the first time he went to college, he wouldn't have been able to read the words on his diploma. The 54-year-old Novato resident didn't learn to read until he was 26, which made his graduation Saturday from Dominican University of California with a master's degree in education all the more thrilling for him.

"I'm over the moon, man," he said. "It's amazing to go from not reading at 26 to getting my masters at 54."

A onetime celebrity chef on the Food Network and on ABC TV's "Home Show," Aikens was among the 546 graduates who received their diplomas Saturday in a commencement ceremony held for the first time in a 20,000-square-foot open-sided white tent that had been set up on grassy Forest Meadows Field on the San Rafael campus.

The private university has outgrown its intimate amphitheater, site of past graduations. But even the tent couldn't hold this year's throng. On a sunny, warm morning, a standing-room-only crowd of more than 3,000 spilled out onto the lawn and packed into bleachers on the fringe of the field.

As the cap and gowned graduates — each holding a single yellow rose — filed into their seats to the recorded strains of "Pomp and Circumstance," proud family members waved placards with their graduate's picture on them and held aloft a sea of cell phones, snapping photos and shooting videos.

Dana King, a retired Bay Area TV news anchor, gave the commencement address. Elizabeth Castellanos, a biology major whose goal is to become a pediatric oncologist, was named student of the year.

For Aikens, Saturday's commencement isn't likely to be his last. He plans on enrolling at UCLA in the fall to study for a doctorate in social welfare and a career as an inspirational speaker. Until then, he'll be working as assistant manager of Woodland's Market in Tiburon.

"My masters thesis is about leading by example, and my goal is to be a positive example for others," he said. "I want people to say, 'If this guy can do it, I can do it.'"

Raised in Georgia, Aikens says he went to a segregated, all black elementary school that failed to teach him basic reading fundamentals. Incredibly, his personal magnetism and athletic ability got him through high school and into Southern University on a football scholarship.

After transferring to the University of Georgia, where he was a walk-on redshirt the year the Bulldogs won the national championship, he visited California on vacation, fell in love with the Golden State and moved out west. Undecided over whether to settle in San Diego or Marin County, he flipped a coin while driving through Oklahoma.

"Heads, Marin. Tails, San Diego," he recalled. "It came up heads."

A father of three, he supported his family by starting a business supplying produce to restaurants in Northern California and made quite a go of it. But his illiteracy undermined his success.

"I was doing great, but, because I couldn't read, I was losing it," he remembered. "My business was dwindling."

By chance, he happened to see a TV commercial for a literacy program through the Marin County Free Library. It was an epiphany.

"It was like that commercial reached through the television and grabbed me, saying, 'Look, I can help you.' Don't be afraid, don't be ashamed, call me,'" he recalled. "So I did, and it not only changed my life, it saved my life."

Once a week, he studied with tutors at the Fairfax Library, quickly learned to read and followed up by earning a bachelor's degree from Limestone University, a liberal arts school in South Carolina. His 17-year-old son, Cole, a star lacrosse player at Novato High School, will be going there in the fall.

As his business revived, his reputation as a food consultant for national corporations led to his TV career as a celebrity chef. Although he could now read, he once stumbled on a word on the teleprompter while appearing on the "Home Show." Embarrassed and overcome with emotion, he revealed his onetime illiteracy on the air. CBS TV anchor Dan Rather heard about it and included his story in his book "The American Dream: Stories from the Heart of Our Nation."

Three years ago, while helping coach football at Novato High, he heard about Dominican from another coach who got his teaching credential there. He was soon enrolled in the university's "Courage to Teach" program. He has also been an assistant coach of the women's basketball team.

"I just fell in love with being at Dominican," he said. "The campus is beautiful, and the faculty is so supportive. Dominican's core values of community service resonated with me. They vibrated in my soul. It was like being called home."